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Google Hangouts is well and truly dead
Hangouts for the web, the last version of the messaging service, will start redirecting users to Google's new Chat experience
How to use your high-end camera as a webcam
If you're thinking of buying a webcam, here’s an option you may not have thought of. If you happen to have a DSLR, mirrorless or compact camera, you may be able to put it into service as a high-quality webcam. In some cases, particularly with select Canon, Nikon and Sony models on Windows, you might not even need any extra hardware at all.
Why is video conferencing so exhausting?
If it’s not Google Meet with colleagues, it’s Zoom hangouts with friends and FaceTime with family. The issue is, online video interactions are fundamentally different from face-to-face ones.
Hangouts Meet has been renamed to Google Meet
Google continues to back away from the Hangouts name by relabeling its videoconferencing service.
Google's latest stab at messaging may be an all-in-one business app
Believe it or not, Google might still be tinkering with its chat strategy. The Information sources say Google is working on a unified communications app for workers that would roll messaging and other features together, including Hangouts Chat, Hangouts Meet, Gmail and Google Drive. Effectively, it'd serve as a more direct rival to office messaging apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams. You'd still have to venture elsewhere for features like your calendar, but you wouldn't have to switch apps just to hold a videoconference or reply to a colleague's email.
Farewell, Google+: You didn't fail, you just didn't succeed
It's the end of Google+. Eight years after its launch, Google is finally pulling the plug on its social network. It was a platform designed to take on Facebook but, despite the company's best efforts, it always existed in its shadow. As of today, there will be no more Google+ sign-in buttons, no more pages or comments, and your account will simply vanish.
Google’s messaging app strategy is still a mess
The rumors were true. Google is killing Allo, its smart messaging app, for good. The platform will "continue to work through March 2019," the company said in a blog post, and users can export their conversation history until then. The so-called "classic" version of Google Hangouts, meanwhile, is slowly being sunset too. In a convoluted Twitter exchange, Scott Johnston, the head of Hangouts and Google Voice, explained to Stephen Hall, a 9to5Google reporter, that Hangouts users will eventually be upgraded to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, a Slack-like competitor and video chat service aimed at businesses and other GSuite customers. This sucks.
Google's chat plans: Kill Allo, upgrade Duo and invest in Messages
Confirming the latest rumors, Google has formally announced a shakeup in its increasingly-splintered messaging strategy. As we'd heard earlier today, Allo is done and will go away after March 2019 (users can export their conversation history until then). It launched a little over two years ago and incubated a number of messaging features with AI, but now it's focusing on its RCS-enabled Messages app, which has already absorbed Allo features like Smart Reply, GIFs and desktop support.
Rumor claims Google Hangouts will shut down in 2020 (updated)
Stop us if you've heard this one before: there's a report that Google is considering either launching or shutting down a messaging app. 9to5Google said that based on a "source familiar with the product's internal roadmap," Google Hangouts as a consumer product will come to an end in 2020. Whether or not that holds up remains to be seen, and Google isn't officially saying anything about the app's future, but the writing has been on the wall since... forever?
Google adds more media and messaging options to Android Auto
Google is rolling out media playback and messaging updates on Android Auto to make it more convenient while keeping safety at the forefront. The refreshed media interface should quickly help you find something you want to listen to , while the system can display short previews of texts -- but only when the car is stopped.
Google+ is dead, but its legacy lives on
Following the revelation of a security vulnerability that exposed the private data of up to 500,000 Google+ users, Google is finally ready to pull the plug on the consumer version of its troubled social network. Simply put, the company said Monday, Google+ has not achieved the broad consumer or developer adoption it had hoped for. Google even said that 90 percent of Google+ user sessions were lasting less than five seconds. This sums up the sad state of a service that, when it launched in 2011, Google dreamed of turning into a serious Facebook competitor.
Google Docs uses AI to catch your grammar mistakes
You no longer have to turn to tools like Grammarly if your Google Docs output lacks polish. As part of a sweeping set of updates aimed mostly at G Suite users, Google has introduced grammar suggestions to Docs users involved in its Early Adopter Program. The addition uses machine translation to spot everything from basic grammatical goofs (such as "a" instead of "an") to larger issues with sentence structure, including subordinate clauses. The AI nature of the checker should help it adapt over time and catch "trickier" issues.
You can now tell Google Assistant to make Duo video calls
Despite Google's best efforts, Google Assistant has often been overshadowed by its more efficient, feature-laden counterparts, such as Alexa and Siri. However, the company is taking steps to make it more intuitive, and to increase its compatibility with its own services, which many would agree should have been considered from the get-go. One such example, apparently rolling out now, is video calling on Duo.
Google will plug 'Chat' into Android to compete with iMessage
Stop us if you've heard this one before: Google is planning to make another mobile messaging push. A report by The Verge shows off its next effort, simply called Chat. What Chat isn't is yet another app; instead, it's a brand name for Universal Profile features in RCS, a standard meant to replace old-school SMS texting with iMessage-like features (minus end-to-end encryption, unfortunately) for everyone. Earlier this year Google said it had 43 carriers and device makes signed on to support RCS, while an updated list shows 55 carriers, 11 OEMS and two operating system distributors: Google and Microsoft (but not Apple, yet).
Google's Slack alternative is available starting today
It's been almost a year since Google first mentioned Hangouts Chat -- a totally redesigned messaging service that's more like Slack than the Hangouts most consumers know today. As of now, Hangouts Chat is out of its "early adopter" program and will be available to all G Suite users over the next week, assuming their company enables it, of course. To be clear, Hangouts Chat is a totally separate and distinct service from Hangouts proper, which still lives in your Google mail inbox. And while we'll forgive you for rolling your eyes at yet another chat service from Google (the number of different chat apps the company has built is legendary at this point), Hangouts Chat does offer something potentially valuable to companies using G Suite -- assuming they're not on Slack already.
Google team will bring Smart Replies to more chat apps
If you've wanted to use Google's canned Smart Replies in chat apps, you've been limited to using Allo or (if you're on the right carrier) Android Messages. But what if you're one of the many, many people using something else? Don't fret: Google's experimental Area 120 group is working on a Reply project that, as the name implies, will bring Smart Replies to many messaging clients (currently just for Android). Hangouts is logically on the list, but so are third-party apps like Facebook Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp and even Twitter's direct messages. You'd only have to tap a button in your notifications to confirm that you're on your way or say you're doing well.
Google's Hangouts Meet video calls are now available on tablets
Google has extended support for video calling on Hangouts Meet, its enterprise version of the chat service, to iOS and Android tablets. This comes almost a year since the company split Hangouts between Chat, for casual users, and Meet, which is geared toward corporate videoconferencing.
Chrome OS will let you reply to messages from notifications
You've had the option to reply to message notifications on Android for years, so why can't you do that on your shiny new Chromebook? You can soon. Google has started implementing support for in-line replies to messages from notifications. Much as on Android, you can respond to a message from a supporting app (Hangouts is one example) in the pop-up box rather than switching tasks entirely and losing your focus.
Google officially kills Gchat in favor of Hangouts
Google Talk, also known as Gchat, has officially been put out to pasture and replaced with Hangouts. The tech giant has been threatening to do so since March, so you've only yourself to blame for holding on to an internet messaging services from days gone by.
Hangouts calls on iPhones now appear as regular voice calls
It took a while, but Google Hangouts has finally followed in Facebook Messenger's footsteps and started taking advantage of iOS 10's Callkit. That means calls you receive on Hangouts will appear as regular voice calls on your iPhones' lock screen -- but only if you want them to. Callkit gives VoIP services the ability to use Apple's stock Phone app, so you can ring people through Hangouts from within the stock app itself. If you're the recipient, the only indication that it's a VoIP call is a small mark underneath the contact's name telling you that it's using Hangouts audio. That way, you won't wander to an area without coverage by mistake while talking on the phone.
